There were only five Romeos present: Paul Girard, Ed DeSchuytner, Jim Terlizzi, Joe Lapiana and Mark Ryan.
You can see some photos at the Picasa web site below … https://picasaweb.google.com/108806068200291783388/Romeo101712?authuser=0&feat=directlink
We arrived at 12 noon and all commented that we missed
the turn to the restaurant since it was right at the traffic circle off Rte. 3.
No problem though since it was on the left and you had to turn around anyway to
get to the strip mall entrance.
We were quickly seated by the manager at a small table next
to a large aquarium loaded with colourful fish. The décor was pleasant with
light blue walls. The waitress was attentive and gave us all menus and
took drink orders which included beer, margaritas and jasmine lemonade. Although the menu had a large list of all the
dishes with Vietnamese names and English descriptions, there were too many
choices for our first time at the restaurant so the manager helped us pick out
a soup and a variety of entrees to share.
The soup was a seafood noodle (#25) and came in a large
bowl with a ladle and smaller individual bowls. Although we could scoop up the broth with the
ladle, it was difficult scooping the noodles. We latter discovered that you
could use the provided chopsticks to wrap the noodles and move them to your
bowl. They should have provided a claw scooper instead.
The waitress then brought several entrees to the table, each
with a bowl of rice. We passed the entrée around and took what we wanted. The
entrees were (#40) Stir Fried Rice Noodles (Pad Thai), (#56) Seafood with
Vegetable Medley, (#60) Salted Shrimp, (#72) Cubes Beef and (86B) Pork sautéed
with Scallions. All the entree dishes
included a selection of fresh vegetable and herb seasoning and a variety of
pork, beef, chicken or seafood. Later we
ended the meal by sharing a dessert of ginger flavoured ice cream which was
creamy and tasty.
Although there was plenty of food to share there was something
missing. None of the dishes had any
characteristic taste. I was looking for a WOW factor and could not find it. The
soup was very thin and bland and more like Campbell’s chicken noodle, with a
clump of white spaghetti and a few pieces of seafood. Similarly, although the entrees had a tasty
medley of vegetables, there were very few pieces of meat to share. The only dish adequate for five people was
the salted shrimp that had two shrimp per person. However, the shrimp was not
shelled and you had to pick out the meat or get a mouthful of nonedible shells.
I would give the restaurant a (7/10) overall rating. The
service was great, the décor was clean and attractive, the prices were
reasonable but the food lacked character. The entrees had a tasty medley of vegetables
but tiny quantities of meat. To me there was no difference in taste between the
entrees. The only difference between the fish, pork, beef and chicken was the
menu label. You know what they say, “Where’s the beef?” You can see a restaurant rating at Yelp.com. I now have listed 6 restaurants under the
member name Mark Ryan. Just click … http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=seDiKEJ7zJErE-_5HV4VFQ After
I got home I read an article about
eating at least 10 servings of vegetables and fruits each day. Maybe that’s why Vietnamese food is rated one
of the healthiest.
However, the conversation saved the day as it bounced
around the table. We talked about politics, the debates, Obama Care, trips we
have taken and the price of gas.
Jim said that he had just returned from a trip to the
Ukraine. He really enjoyed the experience and talked about driving on the
European Highways. While there, he rented a car with a GPS to get around. Lucky
the GPS directions were in English because all the road signs were in Russian. One
of the reasons for the trip was to visit the cemetery of Jim’s Wife’s father. There
was a mass grave for all the soldiers buried there with a plague to mark the
site.
We then talked about gas prices. Ed said that he uses an
iPod App called “Gas Buddy” to get the latest prices in any locality. Jim said
he needed gas when he got to Chelmsford and got some across the street from the
restaurant. Joe said there were a few other
places nearby with cheaper prices. I said that the prices in Wilmington where I
live were about $3.69/gal. Jim then said that the gas in Europe is much higher
where he paid $8.00/gal.
We then talked about getting traffic tickets and speed
traps. Jim said that if you get one always appeal it and go to traffic court.
Most often the charges are dismissed. If you just take the ticket, you get the
$200 fine and have your insurance rates go up for five years. Everyone then chimed in with their own
stories about tickets and speed traps.
Joe P. couldn’t make the lunch today and asked me to pick
up Steve. I called Steve’s house and he
was out of town and couldn’t come either. Mike was also unable to come because
of another appointment.
Ed then said that after the Presidential debate on
Tuesday you could see a list of the truths and non-truths from both Obama and
Romney about different issues on Comcast.com.
With all the facts and figures thrown back and forth it was hard for the
viewers to know what was really true. Maybe it’s like religion, you believe
because you have faith. However, you can
check out the hard facts if you look for them online.
We then talked about meeting next time and settled on
November 28th at Brutole’s in Danvers on Rte. 1. Jim will send out
an email with the details.
